At present, there are multiple ways of decorating objects, the patterns and effects achieved depending mainly on the techniques and materials used for their carrying out.
There exist of course methods which consist in applying a layer of paint, in which the patterns are not embossed, as the one disclosed in EP 0,381,286 and JP 60061078.
There are also known methods making use of a plastic material which requires a high energy-consuming, high-temperature treatment; such methods are disclosed in GB 936,147 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,981,639.
Other methods are disclosed in prior-art documents, as for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,424, which relates to a method used for achieving embossed decorations imitating glass crystals on objects made of glass or plastic.
Said method uses screen-printing and consists, in brief, in printing from a screen a polymer coating on said objects, then treating said polymer, thermally or by UV radiation, so as to obtain the desired glass crystals.
The last step that can be contemplated consists in applying on the obtained pattern a protection coating such as silicone, in particular.
GB 1487 969 discloses a method similar to the preceding one, but based on the use of thermoplastic inks.
It is also known, in particular from EP 0 533 094, to coat objects made of glass by first proceeding to the application of a coating obtained through radical polymerization, then hardening said coating by subjecting it to very high energy radiation.
The various methods described above are generally related to objects made of glass already cooled and released from the mold.
It is however also known to decorate said objects right from the end of their manufacture, while they are still warm and still in their mold.
A method which can be contemplated in this case is described in particular in U.S. Pat. No. 1,693,735.
In this document, it is proposed to apply mineral pigments forming a decoration deposited on a fabric support during the annealing of glass objects that are still warm.
The pigments melt and are fixed on said objects during said annealing.